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Monday, February 6, 2012

Theatre Geek Critique

To be brief, I saw Macbeth performed by Platform 4 on the weekend. Fantastic. If you're in the Liverpool area on Feb 7th and 8th, I'd strongly recommend going. It's playing at 7.30pm at Unity Theatre 0151 7094988. Want to know more?

As we've covered before, I'm a bit of a Theatre Geek. Platform 4's use of minimal stage and prop really made the focus of the show fall on the actors. The performers made Shakespeare's use of language more than just intelligible. They made it enjoyable. I couldn't have asked much more from them with this performance which seemed flawless. My only wish for them, would have been that there had been enough actors so that none of them would've had to do multiple characters. I say that because I'm incredibly selfish. I think they did such a great job interpreting their characters as the play currently was, that I can only imagine how insanely fantastic it would've been if they'd only had to focus on mentally connecting with one character instead of multiple.

Personally, I could have done without the contributions of composer and guitarist Bic Hayes and sound designer Jules Bushell. Again, it's solely for selfish purposes. The added "sound track" behind events unfolding on stage became a distraction for me. I was fascinated by the composition of the sounds and would sometimes find myself focusing on it rather than what was transpiring in front of me. I would begin to listen to the complexity of the piece, individual notes, or question what item could make the sound I was currently hearing. I think the musical pieces themselves were phenomenal and I could easily see myself sitting alone, absorbed by their intricacies without any other interruption. Therefore, I surmise that the performance of Macbeth and the musical compositions would probably stand better without each other.

So, if you're looking for a bit of culture and a very enjoyable way to spend your evening in Liverpool this coming Tue and Wed, head out to Unity Theatre and let yourself explore "a country where unnatural deeds are commonplace, and where the night is filled with a restless ecstasy, [and] Shakespeare’s tragedy of ambition and guilt unfolds." (Platform 4)